concept philosophy ◆ emerging
Poetic Interiority
storytelling philosophy that prioritizes evoking a character's internal state through abstract, sensory, or purely visual editing choices over literal devices like voice-over or conventional flashbacks. The goal is not to explain a character's thoughts, but to create a 'poetic' impression in the audience's mind that mirrors the character's subjective experience. It trusts the viewer to connect the emotional dots presented by the juxtaposition of images and sounds. This often involves using non-literal sound, such as a subtle, thematically-linked sound effect (e.g., a prison sound for a former inmate) to subconsciously communicate a character's trauma or psychological state.
notes
A key application is in sound design, where a sound that doesn't belong in the physical space of the scene is used to place the audience inside the character's head. It's not a flashback sound cue; it's the ghost of a sound, a feeling that lingers in the audio track to color an otherwise normal moment with the character's past.
neighborhood · 6